Adverse drug reactions, adherence, and virologic outcomes in adult patients on dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy at a tertiary hospital, southeast Nigeria.

Objective: To assess the adherence, adverse drug reactions (ADR), and virologic outcomes of dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy. Design: This was a retrospective chart review. Setting: A tertiary health facility-based study in Abakaliki, Nigeria. Participants: Five hundred and fifteen (515) adult patients on dolutegravir were selected using a Random Number Generator. Demographic and clinical data were extracted from patients' case notes and analysed with IBM-SPSS version-25. Main outcome measures: Adherence to dolutegravir, ADRs, virologic outcome, and change in Body Mass Index (BMI) were estimated. Results: The mean age of the patients was 45.5±10.8 years; 68.2% of them were females; 97.1% of them had good self-reported adherence. The majority (82.9%) of them reported no ADRs and among those (17.1%) that did, headache (9.7%), body-itching (3.1%), and skin rash (2.7%) dominated. Most achieved viral suppression (94.4%) and did not have detectable viral particles (57.4%). There was a significant increase in the BMI of the patients with a mean weight increase of 0.9kg, a mean BMI increase of 0.3 kg/m2, and a 2.6% increase in the prevalence of overweight and obesity. Conclusions: Patients on dolutegravir reported low ADRs, good self-reported adherence, and a high viral suppression rate. However, dolutegravir is associated with weight gain. We recommend widespread use and more population-wide studies to elucidate the dolutegravir-associated weight gain. Funding: None declared.

Antimicrobial use among paediatric inpatients in a Nigerian tertiary hospital: A three-year point prevalence survey.

Aim: Antimicrobials are among the most widely prescribed therapeutic agents among paediatric population. Irrational use of these agents increases the risk of antimicrobial resistance. We described the prevalence and pattern of antimicrobial use among paediatric inpatients from 2017 to 2019. Subject and Method: The study was a repeated point prevalence survey over a 3-year period using the global point prevalence standardized tools among all paediatric inpatients. The prevalence of antimicrobial use, the prescription indicators and patterns of antimicrobial use were estimated. Result: Among 191 paediatric inpatients assessed, the 3-year period prevalence antimicrobial use was 85.9% (164/191) with prevalence of 80.6% in 2017, 94.6% in 2018, and 83.6% in 2019. Antimicrobial agents used ranged from one agent (20.1%) to five different agents (5.5%). Parenteral route (66.6%) was the preferred route of administration. The reason for the use of antimicrobial agents (92.6%) and the stop/review date (99.5%) were mostly well documented. Only 4.5% of the antimicrobial use were targeted. There were no antimicrobial guidelines or policy guiding the use of antimicrobial agents, except the national guideline on the treatment of malaria and tuberculosis. Ceftriaxone, a third generation cephalosporin was the most commonly used agent across the period under review. Community-acquired infection was the commonest indication for antimicrobial use. Conclusion: Our findings of high antimicrobial prevalence has raised the attention for the need to develop hospital-based antimicrobial guideline and antimicrobial stewardship program to protect the vulnerable children, their contacts and the environment from the impact of antimicrobial resistance.

Demand for malaria rapid diagnostic test, health care-seeking behaviour, and drug use among rural community members with fever or malaria-like illness in Ebonyi state, Nigeria: a cross-sectional household survey.

BACKGROUND: A good understanding of the demand for malaria rapid diagnostic test (MRDT), malaria health care-seeking behavior, and drug use among community members is crucial to malaria control efforts. The aim of this study was to assess the demand (use and/or request) for MRDT, health care-seeking behavior, and drug use, as well as associated factors, among rural community members (both children and adults) with fever or malaria-like illness in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. METHODS: A cross-sectional household survey was conducted between October 1st and November 7th, 2018, in 18 rural geographical clusters. Data was collected using a structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Descriptive analysis was done using summary statistics. Associated factors (socio-demographic, knowledge and opinion level) were assessed using bivariate and multivariate binomial logistic regressions while the overall effects of these factors were assessed using the "postestimation test" command in Stata. RESULTS: A total of 1310 children under 5 years of age and 2329 children ages 5 years and above and adults (excluding pregnant women) (3639 overall) participated in the study. Among the 1310 children under 5 years of age: 521 (39.8%) received MRDT of which the caregivers of 82 (15.7%) requested for the MRDT; 931 (71.1%) sought care with public/private sector providers (excluding traditional practitioners/drug hawkers) the same/next day; 495 (37.8%) sought care at government primary health centres, 744 (56.8%) sought care with the patent medicine vendors (PMVs); 136 (10.4%) sought care with traditional practitioners; 1020 (77.9%) took ACTs (=88.2%, 1020/1156 of those who took anti-malarial drugs). Generally, lower values were respectively recorded among the 2329 children ages 5 years and above and adults (excluding pregnant women). The most important overarching predictor of the demand for MRDT and care-seeking behaviour was the knowledge and opinion level of respondent female heads of households about malaria and malaria diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Among the rural community members with fever or malaria-like illness in Ebonyi state, Nigeria, while majority did not receive MRDT or diagnostic testing, and sought care with the PMVs, most took anti-malaria drugs, and mostly ACTs. Interventions are needed to improve the knowledge and opinion of the female heads of households about malaria and malaria diagnosis.

Social group and health-care provider interventions to increase the demand for malaria rapid diagnostic tests among community members in Ebonyi state, Nigeria: a cluster-randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The rate of diagnostic testing for malaria is still very low in Nigeria despite the scale-up of malaria rapid diagnostic test (MRDT) availability, following WHO's recommendation of universal diagnostic testing in 2010. We investigated whether a social group sensitisation and education intervention (social group intervention) and a social group intervention plus health-care provider training intervention would increase the demand (use or request, or both) for MRDTs among community members in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. METHODS: We did a three-arm, parallel, open-label, stratified cluster-randomised controlled trial in Ebonyi state, Nigeria, to evaluate the effects of two interventions compared with a control. We randomly assigned geographical clusters that were accessible (close to a road that was drivable even during the rainy seasons) and had at least one eligible public primary health facility and patent medicine vendor (those that offered MRDT services) in a 1:1:1 allocation to the control arm (receiving no intervention), social group arm (receiving sensitisation and education about MRDT), or social group plus provider arm (receiving the social group intervention plus provider training in health communication about MRDT). Investigators, participants (social groups, providers, respondents), and interviewers could not be masked to group assignments. The primary outcome was the proportion of children younger than 5 years with fever or malaria-like illness, in the 2 weeks preceding a household survey, who received an MRDT, and the coprimary outcome was the same outcome but among children aged 5 years and older (ie, up to and including 17 years) and adults (excluding pregnant women). The outcomes were measured at an individual level via household surveys before the interventions and 3 months after the end of the interventions. All analyses were done using a cluster-level method on an intention-to-treat basis. This trial is registered with ISRCTN, number ISRCTN14046444. FINDINGS: We carried out eligibility screening and recruitment of participants (clusters, social groups, and providers) between July 2 and Sept 27, 2018. 34 clusters met the eligibility criteria and 18 were randomly selected to participate and randomly assigned to arms (six clusters per arm). A mean proportion of 40·6% (SD 14·5) of eligible children younger than 5 years in the control arm received an MRDT, versus 66·7% (11·7) in the social group arm (adjusted risk difference [aRD] 28·8%, 95% CI 21·9-35·7, p<0·0001) and 71·7% (19·8) in the social group plus provider arm (aRD 32·7%, 24·9-40·5, p<0·0001), with no significant difference between the social group arm and the social group plus provider arm. A mean proportion of 36·3% (18·5) of eligible children aged 5 years and older in the control arm received an MRDT, versus 60·7% (14·0) in the social group arm (aRD 25·6%, 16·8-34·4, p=0·0004), and 59·5% (18·3) in the social group plus provider arm (aRD 28·0%, 19·5-36·5, p=0·0002), with no significant difference between the social group arm and the social group plus provider arm. INTERPRETATION: The sensitisation and education of social groups about MRDTs can significantly increase the demand for MRDTs. This intervention is pragmatic and could be applied within malaria control or elimination programmes, in Nigeria and in other high-burden countries, to enhance diagnostic testing for patients suspected of having malaria. FUNDING: There was no funding source for this study.

Social group and health care provider interventions to increase the demand for malaria rapid diagnostic test among community members in Ebonyi state, Nigeria: study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization recommended (in 2010) universal testing for suspected malaria, due to some fundamental changes in malaria trends such as the declining incidence of malaria in high-burden countries, the emergence of parasite resistance to anti-malarial drugs especially artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACTs) and the increased availability of diagnostic testing such as the malaria rapid diagnostic test (MRDT). The Nigerian government has long adopted this recommendation and with the support of foreign partners has scaled up the availability of MRDT. However, the malaria/MRDT rate in the communities is still far short of the recommendation. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of social group and social group/provider interventions in increasing the demand (use and/or request) for MRDT among community members with fever or malaria-like illness in Ebonyi state, Nigeria. METHODS: A three-arm, parallel, stratified cluster randomized design will be used to evaluate the effect of two interventions compared to control: control involves the usual practice of provision of MRDT services by public primary healthcare providers and patent medicine vendors; social group intervention involves the sensitization/education of social groups about MRDT; social group/provider intervention involves social group treatment plus the training of healthcare providers in health communication about MRDT with clients. The primary outcome is the proportion of children under 5 years of age with fever/malaria-like illness, in the 2 weeks preceding a household survey, who received MRDT. The co-primary outcome is the proportion of children ages 5 years and above and adults (excluding pregnant women) with fever/malaria-like illness, in the 2 weeks preceding a household survey, who received MRDT. The primary outcome will be assessed through household surveys at baseline and at the end of the study. DISCUSSION: The pragmatic and behavioural nature of the interventions delivered to groups of individuals and the need to minimize contamination informed the use of a cluster-randomized design in this study in investigating whether the social group and social group/provider interventions will increase the demand for MRDT among community members. "Pragmatic" means the interventions would occur in natural settings or real- life situations. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN, ISRCTN14046444 . Registered on 14 August 2018.

Knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance among students of a medical school in Nigeria.

Background: Antimicrobial resistance presents a growing concern worldwide. Medical students are potential antimicrobial prescribers and stewards following graduation as doctors. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge regarding antibiotic use and resistance among pre-final year and final year medical school students of Ebonyi State University, Nigeria. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among all the 184 pre-final and final year medical students of the College of Medicine at Ebonyi State University, Nigeria. Information was collected in April 2018 using a semi-structured, self-administered questionnaire and data were analysed with Epi-Info Version 7.2. Analytical decisions were considered significant at P < 0.05. Results: Respondents were mostly males (62.5%), aged 20-29 years (68.9%) with 60.9% of them in the final year class. Eighty-seven percent of them desired more education on antibiotic use and resistance. Majority 119 (64.7%) respondents had good knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance, however, 39% incorrectly answered that bacteria cause common cold. Only 103 (56.0%) of them had positive practice of antibiotic use. While 8.2% of respondents always consulted a doctor before starting an antibiotic. 37.2% of them never discarded their remaining leftover medications. Knowledge was associated with respondent's gender (P=0.035) while practice was associated with the class of study (P<0.001). Conclusion: There was good knowledge of antibiotic use and resistance, however, practice levels were poor. There is need to enrich existing courses and training about antibiotic use in the curriculum of the medical schools with more emphasis on antimicrobial stewardship.